Kennedy failed to change many minds that night because a large majority of those in the room (many still in high school, I'm sure) had already been indoctrinated by the objectivist ethic, and it's certainly true that whatever Kennedy offered, however reasonable, was rejected by the pre-dominantly objectivist audience.

But the evening did leave an impression on me: objectivists and other ultra-conservative cults that wave flags in the name of justice, rights and freedom (as though non-objectivists find justice, rights and freedom distasteful) should no longer be ignored.

If you've already labeled yourself an objectivist, acid might be the next thing you'd like to trip on. You're beyond help. But if you're one of the many who's read a work or two by Ayn Rand and is intrigued by her "philosophy," should you spot a poster for an objectivist lecture and choose to attend, please go with a critical mind and a modicum of skepticism because the "lecture" part of their advertisements is a misnomer. Objectivist speakers do not teach; they indoctrinate and propagandize. If you're not careful, you just may be tricked into handing over your money--a real possibility, since selfishness is their credo. (Objectivist Club lectures are the only ones I've attended at Harvard where I've been asked to donate money.)

According to objectivism, there is no room for discourse. Professor Kennedy remarked that because the answers to profound questions are always elusive, we should maintain an open dialogue. But Binswanger and his mob-squad would have none of it. By evening's end, it was made clear that objectivism had a monopoly on truth.

In "Cult of Moral Grayness," Rand deconstructs the logic of those who assert life is more gray than black and white: "If there is no black and white, there can be no gray--since gray is merely a mixture of the two." How perfectly poetic! How superbly simplistic! (Rand must have been exempt from Lit. & Arts A.) Try mixing yellow, blue and red, my dear.

Chris H. Kwak is a senior in Leverett House.